Saudi Firm Brings $400M Water Plant to Indonesia

Indonesia is about to solve two problems at once with a groundbreaking facility that turns seawater into both fresh drinking water and high-quality industrial salt.

Saudi utility giant Acwa partnered with Indonesia's state-owned salt company Garam to build a $400 million integrated plant in East Java's Manyar industrial area. The facility combines reverse-osmosis desalination with salt production in a way that maximizes every drop of seawater.

When complete, the plant will produce 62,500 cubic meters of clean water daily. That's enough to supply a city of over 300,000 people with fresh drinking water every single day.

But the salt production might be even more transformative for Indonesia. The facility will generate 500,000 tonnes of high-purity industrial salt annually, helping Indonesia cut its dependence on imports.

Right now, Indonesia imports about 2.5 million tonnes of industrial salt each year, even though total demand reaches 5 million tonnes and keeps growing. The country's industries need high-quality salt for everything from chemical manufacturing to food processing.

This partnership goes beyond just building infrastructure. Technology transfer stands at the heart of the agreement, with Acwa sharing its expertise in desalination design, financing, engineering, and long-term operations.

"Our aim is to ensure that Indonesia has world-scale production facilities alongside the workforce capable of operating and developing them sustainably," said Abraham Mose, Garam's president director. Indonesian workers will learn to run advanced desalination systems, skills they can apply to future projects across the archipelago nation.

The Ripple Effect

This project strengthens water security for one of the world's most populous nations while building an entirely new industrial ecosystem. The facility integrates desalination technology with energy efficiency systems and opens doors for developing other marine minerals from seawater.

Indonesia's investment minister Rosan Roeslani says the project "strengthens Indonesia's efforts to reinforce water security and achieve self-sufficiency for industrial salt." For a nation of nearly 280 million people spread across thousands of islands, water security isn't just an environmental issue but an economic lifeline.

The timing matters too. This agreement came just one week after Saudi Arabia and Indonesia signed a broader deal to promote direct investment and cross-border cooperation. The water plant represents exactly the kind of strategic partnership both countries hope to build.

Acwa CEO Dr. Samir J. Sehan calls Indonesia "an important growth market" and sees this as the beginning of deeper collaboration on the country's water and industrial needs.

Clean water, good jobs, and self-sufficient salt production are all flowing from one smart partnership.